NEWS
Hawkeye
OCTOBER 2021 | 9
ADDING A THIRD LUNCH TAKES A OUT OF 4TH PERIOD CLASSES By Terina Papatu HAWKEYE STAFF
Since the beginning of the school year, officials at MTHS have made several changes to ensure the safety of students and staff. One way this was done was through the change of the entire bell schedule in order to lessen the crowds in the hallways. Originally, the MTHS schedule consisted of two lunches, with one before fourth period and the other after. In an attempt to follow social distancing measures, MTHS staff decided to add a third lunch to the schedule, one of them being halfway through fourth period in addition to the two from before. The new schedule changed the class times as well, taking five minutes off of most classes. The change has affected everyone in very different ways, some losing friends and others needing help finding their lunches, especially when the new schedule was first announced. For example, freshman Jenna Oh’s schedule was changed to a second lunch. “I guess I’ve just lost a lot of people. I don’t care much other than the fact you have to leave fourth period and then come back,” Oh said. “At least you can walk around the HUB without a backpack now.” Junior Sierra Sonko shared a similar sentiment. However, while she wasn’t thrilled with losing friends, she has embraced the opportunity to make new ones. “My best friends, they’re not in my lunch anymore, but I’ve made more friends,” Sonko said. Some students, including freshman Jade Lim, had a hard time adjusting to the longer time between meals. “I was used to having first lunch but now I have third, so I’m hungry in fourth period,” Lim said. Changing the schedule is nothing new, but changes are usually made before the school year starts. All students and staff understand that COVID safety and protocols are important, but many believe that it would have been easier to adjust to the changes if it were earlier rather than nearly a month after the start of the school year. “They should’ve changed it at the beginning of the year,” Sonko said. Junior Elise Colvin agreed. “It was a necessary change, but I didn’t like how they did it in the middle of September,” Colvin said. According to Principal Greg Schellenberg, another one of the reasons for the change was the weather, since
As a result, less and less people are motivated to eat outside as temperatures begin to fall. With more people eating inside with masks off, changes were necessary. “There’s not a lot of kids at lunch anymore, even when basically everyone is just inside now,” Argueta said. With the third lunch in place, fewer students congregate at once, limiting contact and making lunches much safer. While the change seemed sudden, most students seem to feel that it was necessary. Another part of the schedule that changed along with the lunches was the days of the week ROD BUDDEN | HAWKEYE in which students have an advisory period. With the new bell schedule, students have advisory every single day instead of three days a week. While the students attend advisory every day, the length has been shortened, from about 40 minutes to 20. “The one thing I don’t like is the PASS classes, [and] how short they are now,” Colvin said. Colvin also noticed that leaders throughout the school, such as ASB and Connect Crew, have found it difficult to plan and prepare for activities with the limited time provided by the advisory period. With the new schedule, every class begins and ends at a time that ends with a “0” or a “5” making class times much easier to remember. With this change, and only having one schedule for a regular five-day week, most students have found the schedule has been easier to adapt to. However, some students had their entire schedule changed and found out only after showing up to their classes. “They switched my schedule on Wednesday, and they only told me I had a new schedule while I was in PE, and I didn’t enjoy that,” Argueta said. However, she didn’t mind it after the first day of the The (schedule) change has affected change. everyone in very different ways, some With all of the constant changes in students’ schedlosing friends and others needing help ules and the addition of another lunch, most students finding their lunches, especially when the agree that it’s a great benefit to be able to remember new schedule was first announced. when classes start and begin. Until now, MTHS students and staff have commented about having to fall has begun and temperatures are dropping. Prior to remember the different schedules for different days. the changing of the schedule, some students were eating There were countless remarks about the classes ending outside to limit the number of people in the lunchroom. at odd times, like first period being over at 8:13 a.m. on “Washington is basically made for rain,” freshman non-advisory days and 8:06 a.m. on the days with an Sophia Argueta said. advisory period in the schedule. H
